Live video of roosting bats inside Wales’s oldest dated timbered town house is being captured via webcam.

A breeding colony of lesser horseshoe bats – a rare and charismatic species – can be viewed at Grade 1 listed Nantclwyd y Dre in Ruthin.

Bats are in the attic of the historic house and are using it as a maternity roost, where the females have their young during the summer months from approximately April to September.

From June onwards the babies cling to their mums.

Chester Zoo teamed up with Denbighshire Council for the project with the zoo providing funding to install five cameras.

Four of the devices provide images at the house, while a fifth captures live video 24 hours a day, thanks to sponsorship from streaming company NWSG.

Nantclwyd y dre where rare bats have been found (Image: Mike Castle)

The cameras were switched on by Mayor of Ruthin, Cllr Anne Roberts earlier this week.

Cllr Huw Jones, Denbighshire Council’s biodiversity champion and lead member for heritage, said: “Bats are often misunderstood, but by allowing people to see right inside their roost, we hope to show what incredible creatures they are and that there is nothing to be afraid of.”

The lesser horseshoe bat is one of the smallest British mammals.

It is named after the horseshoe-shaped nose leaf, which helps the bat to make echolocation calls used to navigate and find prey.